Producer Price Index for December Shows Relatively Few Large Increases

If you need to get a sense of pricing changes for some basic construction materials that contractors use, or changes in prices for base metals like copper, steel and aluminum, as well as scrap pricing, that information is available on a monthly basis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Producer Price Index (PPI). Electrical Marketing contracts with Global Insight to use PPI data to create our monthly Electrical Price Index.

Diesel fuel saw the largest monthly and annual declines, dropping -13.4% in Dec. 2023 from Nov. 2023, and -18.7% year-over-year.  Steel and iron scrap prices had the largest monthly and annual increases, with stainless alloy and steel scrap up +18.6% and +8.9%, respectively. Copper scrap showed more moderate monthly and annual increases, inching up +3.9% and +2%, respectively.

The chart below shows the monthly and annual change through Dec. 2023 for additional construction material and services.